The present invention relates to an accumulator which is connected to a compressor.
In general, a compressor is a mechanical device that receives power from a power generating device such as an electric motor and a turbine and compresses air, refrigerant or various other working gasses to increase the pressure thereof. The compressor is widely used throughout a household appliance such as a refrigerator and an air conditioner or the industry.
These compressors may be broadly divided into a reciprocating compressor, a rotary compressor, and a scroll compressor.
The reciprocating compressor may be a compressor that compresses the refrigerant while a piston linearly reciprocates in a cylinder so as to form a compression space in which a working gas is sucked and discharged between the piston and the cylinder.
In addition, the rotary compressor may be a compressor in which a compression space in which a working gas is sucked and discharged is formed between a roller which is eccentrically rotated and a cylinder and the roller is eccentrically rotated along an inner wall of the cylinder to compress the refrigerant.
In addition, the scroll compressor may be a compressor in which a compression space in which a working gas is sucked and discharged is formed between an orbiting scroll and a fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll rotates along the fixed scroll to compress the refrigerant.
The compressors described above include an accumulator for receiving a low-temperature and low-pressure gaseous refrigerant. The accumulator may be understood as a device for separating liquid refrigerant from the refrigerant introduced from a heat exchanger (for example, evaporator) and discharging only gaseous refrigerant to the compressor.
A structure for an accumulator of the related art is disclosed in Korean Publication No. 10-2011-0095155 as the related art. A structure in which a connection pipe extending from a side surface of the compressor is bent upward and passes through a bottom surface of the accumulator is disclosed in the related art.
In other words, a structure in which the connection pipe is formed in “L” shape to connect the compressor and the accumulator is disclosed in the related art.
However, according to the related art, since the connection pipe has to be machined to have an “L” shape to connect a side surface of the compressor and a bottom surface of the accumulator, a process is further required to bend the connection pipe into a bending pipe.
In addition, since the connection pipe of the related art is formed as a single pipe and extends to an upper side of a line vertically bisecting the accumulator after passing through the accumulator, there is a problem that vibration generated in the compressor is transferred to the accumulator through the connection pipe and as a result, a large noise is generated.